Chapter 3.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2023!
This is the third chapter! Hope you enjoy it. Btw, when I was thinking about this story, I first thought about having Mark with a sort of romantic relationship with Cosmo, but when I saw the first trailer for "Volume 3", I abandoned that idea. Sorry.
I do not own any characters besides Mark.
Los Angeles, California…
Mark (still wearing his blue tank top and fanny pack/bumbag) walked on Mantis's right, walking around the city. He had never been to Los Angeles before, even when he was still human, and all the Christmas stuff they passed by brought back more happy memories, and made him feel a bit joyful, something he hadn't felt in years. He noticed they were by the Walk of Fame, as he remembered seeing a picture of it years ago when he was human, then heard Mantis gasp, then he tilted his head leftwards to see they were both looking at a guy who was breakdancing. Mantis did an excited giggle before Mark started walking again. Then he looked leftwards again to see people interacting with people in costumes. "Cosplayers." He thought in his head, before he looked over his left shoulder to see Mantis widen her eyes, open her mouth and point her left index out. Mark looked in the direction she was pointing at to see a Captain America cosplay. "Steve!" Mantis yelled out and ran over to the man, which caused Mark to face palm himself (moving his face down and covering his closed eyes with his left paw-hand). He lifted his face up again and removed his paw-hand to see the man running away from Mantis. "Why is he running away?" Mantis asked Drax. "I don't know." He answered, after a wave of his right hand. Mark watched as Drax turned himself leftwards to see a robot cosplay. Sensing trouble, Mark ran up to him. "Hey!" Drax shouted, getting into a tough looking stance, Mantis getting in front of him with her arms held out, Mark stopping in between the two on their left. "No! I'm sorry. GoBots killed his cousin." Mantis yelled out to the crowd, as Drax tried to get around her, but she kept blocking him. "I'll rip your head off!" Drax growled. "Drax! Stop being a bigot." Mantis snarled at him, turning around to face him. "Yeah. Are you trying to get us arrested?" Mark asked rhetorically, now wishing he'd gone over a few things with them earlier.
Then a family came over and got around the three to get a picture, Mark (who found himself in between the young boy and girl) smiling as it was taken, the group was paid. Mantis held some of the Dollar bills in her hands before Mark had an idea. "Hey, Mantis, give me some of those, please. We might need them later." Mark asked, holding out his right paw-hand, and got some bills which he put in his fanny pack/bumbag. They didn't have any Earth money on them, so he decided he'd have some while they were there, in case of emergency. After that, they kind of got into a cosplay rhythm, sending most of the afternoon having pictures taken, getting them money, which they split between Mantis and Mark, his fanny pack/bumbag becoming a bulge, being filled with money. At one point, Mark embarrassingly had to lead her and Drax away from a stable model, which they stared confused at, and he had to stop Drax from beating up the robot guy. Later that night, they kept walking around the city, getting back on their quest. Mark did feel a little unsure about Mantis all her money in her hands, but didn't feel like it was worth mentioning it. Then they approached a building that looked a lot like a bar and waked towards the open door which had a man sitting against it. "Could Kevin Bacon be in here?" Mantis asked eagerly, before staring at Drax, who said nothing before walking in, Drax entering after her. Mark signed and stared downwards/rightwards at the ground, worried that they'd do something stupid or get distracted, so he when in after them. He had never liked bars and alcohol, believing they were a bit… wild, but had little choice now, as he came up to behind Mantis and Drax, who just walked around. His dog sense of smell was filled with the smell of Alcohol, which he tried to ignore. He stood still and watched as Mantis and Drax came up to the table, winched as he was Mantis dump all her money on it, realising he made the right decision to save his money. "Give us your finest libations." Drax demanded, before the bartender, wearing a Santa hat, poured them drinks. "Have you seen Kevin Bacon anywhere?" Mantis asked him. "Why would I know what Kevin Bacon is located?" The bartender asked back, sternly. Mantid and Drax then held their drinks and drank them in in one gulp (Mantis doing so after sticking her tongue in it like a Cat), after which Mantis bursted out slightly orange fumes out of her mouth, Mark getting more worried. "More." She asked, sounding hypnotised. "She's getting drunk already?" Mark thought in his head before he watched them both drunk more, then giggle drunkenly. Then he felt a finger touching his left shoulder, so he looked over his left shoulder, turning his body slightly leftwards to see a black-haired bearded man in a black tank kneeling don before him. "Hey, dude. You want to dance with us?" The man asked. "No thanks, I might get trodden on." Mark replied, noting his Dog size. "Come on, dude. Have some fun. It's the Holidays! Hey, you drink eggnog?" The dude said back, moving his right hand up to show he had a carton of eggnog. This made Mark grin and chuckle, as he remembered his late father used to drink eggnog at Christmas time, and as a teenager, Mark and him used to challenge each other to see if who could drink the most. "Yeah, I used to." Mark answered. Then the dude then pointed leftwards at a table with several people sitting around, some eggnog cartons on it. And before he knew it, Mark was standing on the table, his facing pointing upwards, a carton in both paw-hands, the guys around him chanting "Chug! Chug" , and once empty he threw the carton down and looked at the cheering guys with a smile. For the fist time in years, he was enjoying himself. He'd always been so busy with the Guardians that he'd barely had any time to have fun, which he was kind of rediscovering.
A while later, he sat down outside the bar with Drax and Mantis, recovering from their drunken episode, leaning his back against Drax's right side/arm, eggnog around his muzzle, his paw-hands on his full belly as he let out a burp. "I can't believe not a single one of our new roomies-hic- know where Kevin Bacon is. There are tens of thousands of people on this plant, and we don't even know what Kevin Bacon looks like." Mantis spoke tiredly. "Eight billion actually, if I'm not mistaken. And I kind of know what he looks like. Just don't know where to look." Mark spoke. "You want to know where Kevin Bacon lives?" He heard a woman's voice say, before he moved himself off Drax's body and saw a woman in a cap and fanny pack standing by a shop behind them. The women then got a pamphlet from the stand she was next to and handed it to Mantis. Mark looked leftwards/downwards at it to see it was a star map. "That's 40 Bucks." The woman added. Mark then got up on his hind legs and zipped open his fanny pack/bumbag and pulled out pretty much all the money he had, which he estimated was around 40 Dollars or more. "Here's all the money I have. Keep the change. Thank you." He said as Drax and Mantis got up on their feet. "Let me read the map. I know how to navigate Earth cities. I can get us there in a jiffy." He spoke, before Mantis handing him the map, which he opened and read. Surprised to see the locations of some famous celebrities he knew; he found the one he was looking for and led the way. In no time at all the reached the house. Looking at the map and the address, he then turned around to face the others. "Okay. This should be it. Now, listen, guys. Just be quiet and let me do the talking." He spoke before went over to the gate, looked both ways and saw the doorbell to left went up to it and pressed it. "Yeah. Can I help you?" A voice Mark kind of recognised as Kevin Bacon's asked. "Hello. Yes, we're looking for Kevin Bacon." Mark spoke slowly and politely, bending his legs to bring his muzzle level with the doorbell. "We're looking for the legendary Kevin Bacon." Drax then said. "I just said that Drax! What did I just say?" Mark hissed, his head facing rightwards slightly as he spoke, then faced forwards again. "Your voice might be too slow. I think maybe he didn't hear you." Drax replied. "He heard. He's got ears, Drax." Mark said back sharply. "I'm sorry, guys. I can't help you." Kevin spoke. "Wait, wait, wait, wait." Mantis spoke into the doorbell as she came besides Marks right. Then she pressed the doorbell again. "Hello?" She asked, but no response. She then did it again, then several times again and again, but no response. "Give it up, Mantis. He's not gonna talk to us." Mark said, shaking his head, before he looked over his right shoulder at Drax. "This is why you let the sensible ones do the talking, Drax." Mark said, as he got up. "Sorry." Drax spoke, as Mantis now looked at the gate, as was Mark, in front of Drax, and on Mantis's left, realizing they were going to have to use desperate measures.
"You think you can toss me over the gate if you…?" Mantis asked, but before she could finish, Drax grabbed her with his hands and threw her over the gate, Mantis yelling, Mark hearing her say "oohhhh" as she landed on the ground. Mark then marched up to the gate, and looked through the holes in the right one, his eyes/face level with the bottom hole. "What are you doing?" Mantis asked Drax, looking at him through the holes in the gate. "Tossing you over the gate." Drax simply replied. "I didn't mean right that second. I meant after I was ready. I wasn't even done talking." Mantis explained as she got up on her feet. "Toss you over the gate, don't toss you over the gate? Make up your mind." Drax said back. Mark then rolled his eyes and then looked up at the gate top, before he jumped up, holding up his arms and his paw-hands, grabbed the top of the gate, and used his strength to pull his body up to the top, getting his left hind leg over the gate first, then moved his whole body over the gate, paw-hands letting go as he fell and landed on the side, hearing Drax's shoes impact the ground as well, we he turned around d and faced the rather big white house. Then they started walking, Mark noticed the garden was full of Christmas decorations. "Whoa." He heard Mantis say, causing him to grin, before he heard Drax gasp and saw him pick up an inflatable Elf. "I want this funny man." He spoke as he picked it up. "Don't just take stuff." Mantis cried back, before Mark saw her look at a large Candy Cane decoration, before she too gasped and picked it up. "But I guess that's what it's here for." Mantis said, which made Mark roll his eyes as they continued walking. Mark sniffed his nose and smelled only one person in the house, which had to be Kevin. When they got to the door, mark banged on the door with his right paw-hand, clenched into a fist. "Mr Bacon!" He yelled loudly, then kept on repeating the knocking and yelling, until they heard Kevin's voice again. "Okay, guys, I don't know what you're thinking, but this is not cool. This is private property. Now, kindly put down my Elf, and my Candy Cane, and go. I'm calling the police right now." Kevin spoke, Mark hearing the sounds of a phone dialling, before Drax then slammed himself through the glass, Mark hearing Kevin letting a scream out, so he leaned his head and upper body forwards through the hole in the window and looked rightwards/upwards to see Kevin. "Sorry, Mr Bacon. Nothing personal." He said politely, hearing the usual police phone question, before stepping inside the building, Mantis coming in after him. "You're coming with us. As a Christmas present." Drax added. Kevin then ran down the hall, then threw down a tall Christmas tree with a lot of light on it down in front of them then kept running. "Hey, that's a good tree you just ruined there!" Mark cried after him, as he came up to the tree, then stopped, thinking he should cover the entrance and stairs as Kevin turned left, Drax heading another direction to cut him off. "There three, I don't know what they, people in costumes? AHH!" He heard Kevin yelled into his phone, yelling out probably from Drax. He saw Kevin ran down the hall again, jumped over the tree, then, as he ran past Mark (he half expected to be called a short person in a costume at first), who was waiting for him, ran up the stairs. But Mark was waiting, then got down on all fours and ran up the stairs after him, getting right on his tail. "You can't lose me, Mr Bacon!" Mark yelled as they ran through the upper floor, Mark hearing Mantis screech behind them, saw Kevin back, then headed towards a black door, opened it and rushed through a dark room, Mark going in after him having no trouble sniffing out, as he saw the silhouette of Kevin run through another door, ran after him, the door leading to balcony, then he saw Kevin ahead of him get up on the barrier, then jumped across to the tress covered in lighting, and fell down them and got on the ground and got up on his feet and started to run. "Hmm, not bad for a guy his age." Mark thought in his head as Mantis and Drax came up to him, then they all jumped, Mark using his paw-hands to move his body over the barrier, then turned his body around as he fell through the air, the three landing on their feet (Mark in the middle), facing Kevin, who had stopped to look at them, before running again.
They three of them then started running again. "Wait!" Drax called out, which made the two others stop and turn around to face him. "What?" Mantis asked back. "I left my little funny man back in the house." Drax explained, referring to the Elf. "What?" Mantis asked incredulously. "I want to go back and get him." Drax explained, before began to turn around, but stopped. "But we're gonna lose Mr Bacon!" Mark said back loudly. "But you still have your swirly red-white curly man." Drax said back, pointing at Mantis's Candy Cane. "How can you possible think this is a man?!" Mantis asked incredulously, as Mark rolled his eyes again. "What is it?" Drax then asked. "I don't know. A shape?" Mantis asked, unsure. "Well, how is it fair you get to keep it and I don't?" Drax asked. "Because I was responsible and held onto it!" Mantis said back loudly, Mark signing in annoyance as they were wasting a lot of time. "Drax, do you love Peter and want to save Christmas, or do you want a little funny man?" Mantis then asked sternly. For a few seconds, silence filled the area. "Oh…A little funny man." Drax finally answered "NO!" Mark and Mantis both yelled out, before they both ran down the path, after Kevin, Mark on all fours. The three of them then followed Kevin as he ran down the street, jumping over fences, Mark running on all fours in between and pushing himself up into the air with his hind legs, before he heard the sound of police sirens, looked ahead to see 3 police comes up in front of Kevin, who waved his arms out in. "Really? All that for one famous man?" Mark thought in his head, surprised (ignoring the police question with Kevin and his response), as he, Drax, and Mantis jumped over the hedge near the people and cars, and walked slowly towards them. "Hello." Mantis called out, Mar's face showing nervousness, before Kevin went behind a female black officer, who pulled out her gun. "Hey! I'm a police officer. I don't know what's going on here, but you need to back up, or I'll shoot! Raise your hands above your head! STOP!" The officer announced, Mark (behind and on Drax's left) slowing down a bit, and holding his paw-hands up slightly, before the officer fired at Drax, who just stopped and laughed.
The officer looked confused for a moment before firing several more shots, Drax still laughing, the other officers firing as well, which still caused the same reaction. Mark chuckled at Drax's laughter, figuring what it felt like to him, which was tickling. "Stop! Stop, it tickles! Stop! I'm gonna pee my pants!" Drax laughed, which made Mark laugh more. Then he heard Mantis grunt, and then saw her whack the officers gun from her hand with her Candy Cane, before using it to pull her (by her neck) onto the ground. Then she used her powers to make the officer go to sleep. Seeing the other officer behind Mantis head towards her, Mark knew what he had to do ran forwards/towards them and held out his right paw-hand and fired a paw-blast, setting it to knockout, which hit the officer and made him fall down to the ground. The two remaining officers then went at Mantis, who (after letting go her Candy Cane) dealt with the first by using her hands and arms by thrusting the officer besides her and kicking the other one with her left leg, then both legs, before she then rolled them onto the ground, then she went up to them and used her power on them. Mark and Mantis then stared at Kevin, who was ducking behind an open police car door, having watched the whole thing. Mark stepped slowly towards, as did Mantis, before the sounds of more sirens filled his ears, coming from behind them, so he turned his body around leftwards to see another police car coming up, saw Drax walking into its direction, then it came up to him, then he stopped it with his bare hands, then used his strength to thrust the car up and over onto its top and bonnet, laughed as it rolled, then turned around to face them, while Mark cringed with worry. "DRAX! You can't just kill people!" Mantis yelled out, as she picked her Cany Cane, before Mark and her started walking over to the upturned car. "Yeah. We harm innocent lives, especially this close to Christmas." Mark added as Mantis came up alongside him, on his right. "Well, how am I supposed to know the rules if no one tells me?" Drax asked back. Mark and Mantis just walked silently past him, went over to the upturned car, Mark looking downwards/rightwards to see inside, then knelt down on Mantis's left, front paw-hands touching ground, seeing two police officers stuck in their seats. Luckily, Mark could hear them breathing and their hearts beating as he signed in relief as he saw them move slightly. "Are you okay?" Mantis asked, but got no reply from the officers, who just looked at them. "Sorry about that. Excuse our friend. We are not doing anything bad. We're just borrowing Kevin Bacon as a Christmas present for our friend, who is sad about Christmas." Mark explained slowly. "Okay." The second officer spoke nervously. "Here." Mantis spoke, as she moved her Candy Cane into the car. "I really wanted this, but, we're even now, okay?" Mantis asked, Mark smelling as he felt it was a very sweet thing. "Sure." The second officer replied. "That doesn't look like a man to you, does it?" Mantis then asked, to which Mark rolled his eyes. "A man? No." The second officer answered, the first officer shaking her head. "Of course not. My friend is being an idiot." Mantis spoke, before she got up on her feet and walked away.
"Again, sorry about this. Happy Christmas." Mark spoke to the officer with a smile before he too got up on his hind paws and walked away. Looking at the other car's open door, saw that Kevin had fled Then he sniffed his dog nose, getting Kevin's scent, and then led the others, hoping to get ahead of Kevin and surprise him. The arrived by a wired fence as Kevin crawled under it, was just about to run, looked ahead the gasped, seeing them (Mark in between Drax and Mantis). He tried to run past them, but Mantis placed her left hand against the right side of his head. "You would love to come with us." She spoke using her powers on him. His facial expression changed to fear to normal as she removed her hand. Then Kevin smiled. "Hey. Where are we going?" Kevin asked, holding his arms out as he spoke, then moved them down. "First, there." Drax answered, pointing with his right index finger towards a Christmas shop across the street. "Coolness." Kevin spoke, which made Mark smirk, knowing what they were about to do. Christmas shopping.
And that's the third chapter done! First one of 2023! I think this is the longest chapter in this story so far. Sorry if the chapter and the paragraphs are a bit long, but I just wanted to get this section of the film over and done with. Not sure when the next chapter will be out, so please be patient.